JUMPING THE GUN

I just read the article by Laurel Eddy regarding the accident on the new
Young's Bay Bridge. "That somebody didn't get hurt or killed is
phenomenal," The Daily Astorian, July 12)

As an epileptic, I am outraged that the police put themselves in the place
of medical doctors in assuming the driver of the truck that caused the
accident was high on marijuana, which can stay in the system for a month,
unlike other drugs.

In the condition the driver was in, how could a drug test be performed at
the scene?

According to the article, when the officer first saw the driver, he was
lying on the seat of the vehicle unconscious. In "disgust," the officer
said "he's in another zone."

Add to the mix the motorcyclist said "He was jerking as much as 12 inches
from side to side before he collapsed on the front seat." "He looked like
he was having a seizure, foaming at the mouth," said the eyewitness.

The individual should have been transported to the hospital for a complete
work up and then off to jail for the small amount of marijuana on his person.

Another medical fact. Medical marijuana is prescribed by medical doctors
for some individuals with seizure disorders. It does not cause the symptoms
described above, it eases them in some cases.

Get the facts first. I feel sorry for the driver who caused the accident
and all involved. If it was epilepsy or another seizure disease, it could
have been his first seizure, for all we know.

But, he landed in jail rather than in the hospital, so he can have another
episode and another and so on. He could always go to jail later when all
the facts are in. Straight from the hospital if need be.

When my mom was a psychiatric nurse in the 1940s, they put people with
seizures in a straight jacket. If it was a seizure, how far away from that
mentality are we now?

CONNIE FERY

Astoria